Barcelona seek €150m from bank to cover player wages
Thursday, July 8, 2010 @ 3:40 PM
Barcelona have been forced to seek €150m (£125m) in bank finance to cover unpaid wages for players and coaching staff, with the club's new president, Sandro Rosell, talking of "cash-flow tensions".
The Primera Liga champions have provided six players who have featured regularly in Spain's starting line-up at the World Cup but there are strong signs the Camp Nou's recent successes have been built on shifting sands.
Barcelona were forced to seek external support after discovering that "there weren't sufficient resources" to cover their obligations. "This week we'll have everything in place to impose a policy of austerity to be able to make savings in unnecessary areas and meet very important commitments such as paying the wages of our players, coaches and employees," said Rosell.
Analysis of the club's finances showed they made only an €8.8m profit in winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League in 2008, and carried debts of €350m. Those liabilities are set to balloon again.
There are fears over the viability of their broadcast deal with Mediapro, which is worth about €150m a season, since the company filed for bankruptcy protection last month. "We have spoken to representatives of Mediapro about their situation because everyone believes that they are in receivership," said Rosell.
However the president insisted his club is not itself about to suffer a similar fate. "The membership needn't be concerned," he said. "The club isn't bankrupt."
Source: The Guardian